The maintenance of a tidy natural outdoor landscape includes the regular edging or cutting of the growth of grass, plants and other vegetation along the edges of paths, curbs and gutters, garden plots, walls, fences, etc. Various methods have been used to perform these and similar tasks, using manual and motor-assisted equipment. The latter are tenned "edgers" and are increasing in popularity.
It is known for edgers to use a flat rectangular blade with at least one fixing hole in the blade. If only one hole is used, it is at the centre of the blade. Alternatively, a cutting disc with teeth disposed around its circumference is used.
During the edging or cutting process, and particularly with professional garden maintenance, it is desirable to minimise the overall time required to complete the task. It is also desirable to minimise the quantity of energy consumed, to increase the overall efficiency of the task.
It is also desirable to maximise the operator's comfort, which can be adversely affected when motor assisted equipment creates excessive movement and/or vibration, due to the inpact of the rotating blade on dirt, rocks and the like.
It is also desirable to minimise the storage space required by large quantities of cutting blades in the manufacturing and distribution stages of production.
Finally, it is desirable in some situations for an operator to have the ability to vary the width of the cut that the blade makes.